Kenney, Laina - Overexposed [DIG Security 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)
Page 7
“This time you are getting what you need. Make no mistake, if I thought it was just something you wanted, you wouldn’t be getting it. But you will follow all the rules, and you will keep your head down and be ready to duck and run the fucking minute I say so.”
Avelyn nodded, but her eyes were wide.
It would do her good to realize how pissed off he was. He wasn’t going to be a pushover on important matters every day. He was no woman’s idea of a dream guy, and Avelyn needed to see him as he really was if there was ever going to be a chance at a relationship.
Locke didn’t know much about making a relationship work, but he sure as hell knew how to ruin one, and he wasn’t going to make any of those mistakes with Avelyn. If he didn’t let her get to know the real man, he would never know if she could love the real man.
And he wanted her love, but not at the expense of her safety.
He pinned her with a hard look.
“Change out of that dress and into something you could run in if you had to. We’ll go to the hospital, let Conn give you a lecture on safety you’ll never forget, and get the hell home. That’s it.”
“Thank you,” she said, but she didn’t sound so sure anymore.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 11
The ride to the hospital was long and silent. The cool tension in the cab of the old red truck was so strong it was like another presence.
By the time they got into the elevator at the hospital, Avelyn’s nerves were humming, and she wanted to scream.
As usual when an argument was over, she wanted to apologize, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it yet. Sure, she could say sorry and make nice, but she wasn’t sorry, and she wasn’t always nice.
She was stubborn, and she had a temper, but so did her cowboys. If she was going to get any respect from two strong men, she was going to have to stand up for herself.
Still, it didn’t make it right. Avelyn knew she could have handled it better with both Locke and Sam, but she would find a way to make it up to them once she could see for herself that Uncle Conn was well. The sick feeling churning in her stomach since she had heard he was injured was only getting worse.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, she saw Grange and Dash standing in the hall. She went up to them without any hesitation, Locke and Sam right behind her. Dash was about to speak when Conn’s swearing sounded in the hallway.
Avelyn turned and started toward the sound of his voice, when Dash took her arm.
“Ms. Reilly,” Dash said. “Conn is going to be fine, but he was burned on the side of his hand and just past the wrist.”
Dash let her go, but before she could ask any questions, Grange spoke up.
“He was trying to defuse a bomb under his car. It had a tiny vial of acid as its secondary trigger, and some of the acid got on him. He’s okay, more angry at himself than hurt.”
“They’ll most likely release him within the hour,” Dash added.
Avelyn felt some of the fine tension in her shoulders relax. Uncle Conn had been through a lot in his life. Avelyn knew it would be painful, but she also knew the man. A burned hand wouldn’t slow him down for long.
Wait, a car bomb?
That was a classic IRA tactic to remove a threat. Was Billy in San Antonio and targeting Conn?
Her anxiety spiked, and the questions started to spill out in a garbled rush.
Dash held up one hand.
“Slow down and ask your questions, Ms. Reilly. Right now, we don’t know much, but you’re welcome to ask.”
Avelyn looked up at him, but the words wouldn’t come. She couldn’t even think what to ask first. Her frustration manifested in a hot surge of blood to her cheeks and a sting of tears that she forced back.
It was no time to be crying. Conn would be all right, and he would tell it to her straight. If it was somehow her fault that this had happened, she might blame herself, but Uncle Conn would never blame her.
Sam put an arm around her shoulders and handed her a steaming coffee in a disposable cup.
“I don’t know if you should drink hospital coffee. But if it is as poisonous as Locke always says, at least there are doctors nearby,” he said with a wink.
Avelyn found her worry hadn’t eased, but she could still manage to smile at him in return. She appreciated his attempt to release some of their shared concern through humor.
“I’ll risk it,” she said. “Thank you.”
A thought struck her, and she looked around, but Locke was a long way down the hall at the nurses’ station.
“Has Locke been in the hospital often?”
Sam snorted and gestured her to a chair.
“Please have a seat while I entertain you with tales of my brother’s rodeo years. It’ll pass the time until your uncle is discharged.”
Avelyn listened with rapt attention as Sam told story after story about Locke’s time following the professional rodeo circuit. It was fascinating, funny and disturbing by turns, and she found she was constantly interrupting Sam with questions or exclamations.
The stories did not alleviate the underlying tension, but she was able to shove it into the background for now. She really needed to see Uncle Conn.
But first she needed to find a bathroom. She only hoped it was clean. All that coffee had a predictable effect.
She put her hand on Sam’s arm and stood.
“I’m just off to the loo,” she said quietly.
He pointed down the hall near the elevators, and she started walking.
The bathroom wasn’t too bad when she got inside, spotless and well stocked. But something about the scent of the disinfectant they used made her stomach spasm. Or maybe it was the coffee after all.
She opened the stall door and screamed.
Chapter 12
Her desperate scream was cut off instantly by Billy Winskill’s filthy hand over her mouth as he pushed her back against the bank of hand dryers. He was wearing hospital scrubs and a cap, and his small eyes were hidden behind thick glasses.
Avelyn struggled frantically, but his hold on her only tightened. The bruise on her arm throbbed in his brutal grip.
“You’ve led me on a merry chase, you sweet bitch,” he said.
He shook her violently, and her back slammed into the dryers. The pain made her cry out behind his hand.
“Stop there. Stop, you’re not getting away from me again. You’re coming back to Ireland. It’s my reputation at stake if you don’t, and that’s a fact.”
His face was too close, his breath sour, but it was the hot excitement in his undersized eyes that sickened Avelyn. His gaze travelled down to her heaving chest, and his breathing quickened.
“Paddy tires of his women so fast,” he almost crooned. “But don’t fuss. I’ll make sure you always have a bed to sleep in. Your suitcase and clothes are already at my flat.”
Avelyn’s stomach lurched at the thought, but the coffee stayed down.
“You’re going to come with me, and you’ll keep your mouth shut. I let Conn off with a warning this once, but if you cause any more trouble, I’ll finish the job and blow him to hell where he belongs. You understand me now, don’t you?”
Avelyn nodded and tried to push down her instinctive terror of this man. She had to breathe, to think her way out of this. She got away from him once and she could do it again, but only if she could keep thinking through the fear.
Billy took his hand off her mouth. When she didn’t scream, his grasp loosened.
“Fix yourself up,” he said and gave her a hard push toward the mirrors. “You need makeup. And smile.”
Avelyn moved to the mirror on shaky legs and ran cold water over her hands. She tried to smooth down her hair.
Billy wouldn’t know it, but there were probably eight or ten security agents on this floor and at least two more of them smoking and putting in time down in the parking lot, all of them Uncle Conn’s friends and colleagues.
The odds were in her favor, though it
didn’t feel that way right now. She caught a glimpse of Billy in the mirror. He was watching her ass, and she shuddered. She felt so vulnerable, exposed. Just the look on his face made her skin feel dirty.
She just had to keep thinking and not panic. If she could just stall long enough, maybe Sam would wonder what was taking so long and come to see if she was okay.
* * * *
Locke looked down the hall in the direction of the bathrooms again. What the hell was taking so long? He had some new information for her about the man who had followed her from Ireland. He was more dangerous than she knew.
“How long has she been in there?” he asked.
Sam shrugged.
“Women take a long time in bathrooms,” Sam said.
“Not Avelyn,” Locke said with a frown. “She doesn’t waste her time, and she wants to see Conn.”
As he said it, he knew it was true. Avelyn wouldn’t spend her time alone fixing her hair and putting on makeup when she could be right outside Conn’s door waiting for news.
The woman didn’t even wear makeup most days. She didn’t need makeup or fancy clothes to be the most beautiful woman Locke had ever known.
He turned and stared down the hall, and his skin prickled in elemental warning. Maybe he was overreacting and she was just wiping away a few tears, but his instincts were clamoring, rising like another consciousness inside his skin, trying to break free.
He started down the hall. He had to be sure.
* * * *
“Now you’re just wasting time. Walk out to the elevator. And you’d better smile like you just fucked your boyfriend in the ladies’ loo. Go on, then.”
Billy’s grip on her hand was painful. The man was seriously delusional if he thought that she would just relax and let him lead her off to a life of utter misery in Ireland. Didn’t he realize that if she had run from him before, she would run again?
Still, she pasted on a trembling smile. The first person she saw when she opened the door was Locke.
He was walking down the hall, and he was looking right at her. His gaze settled on her face for an arrested moment, and then his eyes narrowed, and he started running flat out.
Locke was silent as he ran, muscles bulging, legs working, arms pumping with power, as graceful and deadly as a tiger at full stride.
She couldn’t stop the sudden leap of her heart.
She knew the moment Billy caught sight of Locke bearing down on them because he squeaked out a curse and tried to pull her close to him.
She dropped to the floor and kicked at Billy’s legs. The maneuver threw him off balance, and he fell heavily on top of her. The force of his fall knocked the air out of her lungs and banged her bruised cheek on the cold tile of the floor.
There was a loud shout and a crash, and then Billy’s weight was off her back. The impact of Locke’s body and all that built-up speed hammered Billy into the wall above her with a meaty thud.
Avelyn writhed on the floor, trying to suck air into her lungs. That bastard weighed a ton.
There was a long scraping noise followed by a couple of grunts. Billy’s cursing cut off abruptly. There was no other noise in the background except for a ragged cheer and the inexplicable sound of people clapping.
Was Locke okay? What was going on?
She couldn’t get her breath.
Sam and Grange helped her to sit up, and Sam rubbed her back.
“Just breathe,” he said. “Calm down and breathe, honey. You’ll be fine. Everything’s fine.”
Avelyn struggled to see around Grange. Where was Locke?
All at once her lungs cooperated, and she pulled in air. The relief was intense.
When Grange stood up, she could see several agents standing around. Billy was flopping around on the floor, swearing weakly and looking up at Locke, who was standing over him with a fierce expression on his scarred face. Billy’s wrists and ankles were tied together in front of him with . . . was that Locke’s belt?
Locke knelt in front of her and dragged her into his arms.
“God,” he said into her hair. “Avelyn, thank God.”
She clutched him to her with one arm, holding Sam’s hand with the other, and they sat that way for several minutes while agents worked around them.
By the time Locke and Sam finally helped Avelyn to her feet, the volume of the chaos around them was crushing.
Grange stood with his back to them talking to an angry Conn. Dash was snapping out orders that had orderlies and security guards scurrying in all directions.
Conn used one booted foot to shove Billy off to the side of the hall to wait for the San Antonio Police to arrive. Whatever Locke had done to Billy in those few seconds had been effective. Billy was bound, secure, his face white around a forming bruise over one eye.
“Nice work,” Conn said to Locke as the three of them came up to him. Except for a bandaged hand, Uncle Conn looked good.
Locke turned and looked at Billy, and the cold rage on his face made Avelyn pause.
“He had his hands on her. I had to do something to get him away from her fast. And as much as I want him dead, I didn’t want to tear him to blood and bone in front of your niece.”
“Roped and hogtied. I forgot you were a rodeo champ,” was Conn’s only response.
Sam laughed. Locke gave them both the finger, but it was half-hearted at best.
Uncle Conn winked at her.
Avelyn sighed inwardly. It didn’t seem like Uncle Conn was going to address the obvious fact of her relationship with Locke and his brother. She hadn’t exactly been discreet moments ago when she was clinging to both men in the middle of a crowded hallway, and she was holding hands with both men now.
“As long as she’s happy,” Conn said.
Locke and Sam looked at each other and nodded.
“Yes, sir,” Locke said and squeezed her hand.
Chapter 13
Avelyn clicked the phone off. She rose from the table and stretched. She had been sitting for far too long the past two days as she researched possibilities for her future. She knew what she wanted, but it was just a pipe dream unless she worked up the courage to make it happen.
Now was as good a time as any.
She poured a glass of sweet tea and padded barefoot out to the front porch where Locke was sitting.
His Stetson covered his eyes, and his booted feet were propped up on an orange crate. When she curled into his lap, he pushed his hat back on his head and cuddled her close.
She took a sip of the cold tea then held the glass for Locke to drink.
He drank and tried to hide a grimace.
“Too much sugar?” She set the glass down on the porch beside them.
“Maybe,” he allowed. He licked her neck with his cool tongue and she squealed. “I’d rather get my sweetness from the source.”
“Behave yourself,” she said with a mock swat to his broad chest.
He just grinned.
Avelyn leaned back against his chest and let her head rest on his shoulder.
“What will happen to Billy?”
Locke’s muscles tightened under her.
“He’ll spend time in jail before trial, and then he’ll be found guilty of attempted kidnapping, assault, and a few other things due to the overwhelming evidence provided by nearly thirty witnesses. After he’s sentenced, the Irish son of a bitch will spend years in a crowded prison with American citizens paying for his meals and cigarettes.”
Locke sounded aggravated, and Avelyn sighed. She knew how angry Locke had been. She had seen the fury on his face when he looked at the man who had attacked her. Billy was lucky to be alive.
She was just glad that Locke had such self-control. At least Locke wouldn’t be going to prison for killing the man in front of those same thirty witnesses.
“And Paddy O’Neill? I’m not sure why he focused on me, but Billy said he loses interest in a woman quickly. I want it to be true.”
Locke rubbed a big hand over her back.
Avelyn’s stomach was a flurry of butterflies. She wanted another moment to gather her thoughts, but she had already put it off long enough. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“Locke, I’ve been thinking,” she began in a soft voice.
His arms tightened.
“Don’t go,” he said. “Don’t even think about going.”
“What?”
She was startled that he would jump right to the conclusion that she was leaving. Whatever gave him that idea?
“Where the hell is Sam? Wait until Sam and I can talk to you.” He looked around as if Sam would magically appear just because someone mentioned his name. When that didn’t happen, he bellowed, “Sam!”
When Sam came running around the corner of the house, Locke said, “Avelyn’s been thinking.”
She almost laughed. He spoke as if her thinking was the worst thing that could happen. Avelyn brushed Locke’s arms away and stood up.
Locke rose to his feet as well.
“Sam, I was thinking—”
“Don’t think about going home yet,” Sam said. “There are great universities here in Texas. You could transfer here and finish your schooling.”
“That’s right,” Locke said. “And you already have family here. Your Uncle Conn misses you and would love to have you stay.”
Avelyn looked from one man to the other with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
Really, that was the best they could do?
“I know Uncle Conn would love that. He’s already said it. But what about you?” she challenged. “How do you feel about the idea of me staying?”
Sam grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.
She waited.
“I love you,” Sam said into her palm. “You’re beautiful inside and out, honey girl. I’d feel blessed if you stayed in Texas with us.”